Building unit



A. F. TBEMIS BUILDING UNIT April '23, 1929.

Filed May WQk - Patented Apr. 23, 1929.

UNITED STA ALBERT r. BEMIS', or NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIeNoa TO IBEMIS INDUs'raIEs ATE."

INQ, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION, OF DELAWARE. a

BUILDING UNIT.

Application filed May 7,

This invention relates to columnar building units adapted to be used in a varietyof ways and combined with other similar units to comprise the basis for fioor,wal l or roof structures of buildings as described more specifically in the copending applications of Albert F. Bemis No. 33,173, filed September 12, 1925, and Nos. 72,673; 72,677; and 72,678, all filed December 2, 1925.

An object of this invention is the provision of a' tubular unit of the general charac'-- ter described in the above identified applications, which is adapted to cheap and'rapid quantity production out of readily available materials, which will have desirable physical characteristics of considerable inherent rigid- 1ty and a moderate degree of structural strength coupled with comparative lightness, as Well as being readily adapted to working as by cutting, sawing or the like A further object of the invention relates to the provision of a unit of this type which may or may not be used to receive reinforcing elements embedded therein without substantially altering its physical characteristics, thereby being more widely adaptable to vari ous requirements. Further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art upon a reading of the subjoined description and claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of the invention;

' Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the unit comprising the subject matter of the invention with partof the outer wall broken away and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of another form of the invention.

In order to provide hollow building units which are adapted to cheap quantity production, it is desirable to provide means whereby light cementitious material may be readily formed into a tubular member. With this end in view I prefer to provide, internal and external shells of paper orsimilar material, preferably of a fibrous sheet composition such as chip board or straw broad bound with any of a variety of cementitious materials, such as plaster, which may or may not contain fibrous or other aggregate, or asbestos, or other fireproof paper or cloth, preferably stiffened by a suitable impregnating compound, or fine wire cloth, or various combi- 1926; Serial No, 107,369.

nations of paper, cloth and wire may also be used for the fibrous coverings of tubular shells I which define the inner and outer faces of the units. Hereafter the material used for the shells may be referred to for; purposesjof i convenience as paper.

from a single layer of paper. A long sheet v of paper may have one of itslongitudinal margins coated with an adhesive substance such as glue and may be bent over into adhesive engagement with the opposite l0n'gitu.

dinal margin to form each of these tubes. '7

Suitable spacing blocks, bits of plaster, or similar cementitious material may be interposed between the inner and outer shells to hold them in proper relative position. When the shells are so located in relation to each other, they are ready to receive a cementitious filler which preferably consists of light material such as gypsum plaster,wi th-or without the addition of wood fibre, asbestos or other aggregate, oxychloride' or-magnesium,

magnesium oxide or any one ofa variety of hy- Y In order to suit many installations the l paper cylinders 1 and 2 may be eccentrically arranged, as indicated in Fig. .1, whereby the wall of cementitious material 7 may be substantially thicker at one sideof the unit than at the other, such a feature being par-' ticularly desirable in installations such as floors or roofs. In many other cases, as ordinarily in walls, the cylinders may be concentrically arranged in relation to each other to provide a substantially uniform plaster wall 7 as shown in.Fig.'3. In certain cases it may be desirable to apply reinforcing elements at one side or symmetrically arranged in the cementitious material 7. For example, as indicated in Fig. 1, a number of light metal strips 9 are embedded in the thicker portionsof the plaster 7. Inother' cases it may.

be desirable to providea substantially cylin drical portion formed of rods, strips and lll cross Section.

hoops or merely of meshed Wire. At times it may be desirable to make the outer tubes of a non-circular form, as for example elliptical While obviously tubular building units of the character herein described may be manufactured in a Variety of Ways, a preferred method of manufacture is more fully described in the companion application No. 122,592 of Charles L. Norton filed on July 15, 1926.

. I claim:

l. A columnar building unit comprising a pair ofcccentrically disposed tubes of flexible fibrous material and a filler of cementitious material disposed therebetween, Whereby the disposition of the section of material in the columnar unitis unsymmetrical.

2. A columnar building unit comprising a pair of eccentrically disposed paper tubes of diii'eren't diameters and spaces between the tubes, a filler of cementitious material disposed in said space whereby the material is unsymmetrically disposed in the unit, longitudinally reinforcing elements located in the portion ofsaid space which is of the greater thickness whereby the unit is adapted to Withstand greater stress in one-direction than in other transverse directions. a

Signed by me at Bost0n,.l\lassachusetts,

this 4th day of "May, 19526.

ALBERT F. BEMIS. 

